Splash guard for soap dispensers



Sept. 11, 1956 G. H. PACKWOOD, JR

SPLASH GUARD FOR SOAP DISPENSERS Filed March 22, 1952 HTTORNEKS United States Patent:

SPLASH GUARD FOR SOAP DISPENSERS George H. Packwood, Jr., St. Louis, Mo.

Application March 22, 1952, Serial No. 278,039

3 Claims. (Cl. 222-192) The present invention relates to a splash guard for use on soap dispensers or the like.

It has particular value in connection with dispensers for powdered soap in which a valve is operated by upward pressure at the bottom of the dispenser adjacent the soap discharge orifice. In such dispensers, it is customary for the user to obtain some water in the palm of his hand and then to move his hand under the dispenser against an upwardly movable valve operating plunger to lift the same, so that soap will descend into the hand which has the water in it. The concomitant of this operation is that some of the water from the palm of his hand tends to splash upwardly and to come to rest upon the valve and associated parts of the dispenser over which the powdered soap moves in operation of the dispenser. Any wet parts will tend to cause the soap to adhere to them, with the result that, after a number of such uses, the valve and discharge orifice parts of the dispenser become covered with powdered soap particles so that they are unsightly, unsanitary and inefficiently operated.

The present invention comprises a splash guard in the shape of a conical member that is disposed on the valve operating plunger of the dispenser above the bottom end thereof, and hence between the hand of the operator and the discharge parts of the dispenser. The conical guard projects outwardly sufliciently far so that it can deflect water from the palm of the hand of the user away from the discharge operating parts of the dispenser. Specifically, the guard or deflector most desirably extends out laterally as far as the diameter of the discharge portions of the dispenser. Also, in order to avoid a deflecting of the discharging soap by the guard, outwardly beyond the palm of the hand of the user, the guard is provided with openings adjacent its periphery and a flange around the periphery to cause the soap to descend actually into the palm of the hand.

Additional objects and advantages of the invention will appear from the description to follow.

In the drawing:

Fig. l is a side elevation of the lower part of a powdered soap dispenser containing the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a medial or diametrical section of the dispenser portions shown in Fig. 1 with the valve closed;

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary view of the lower part of the dispenser with the valve open; and

Fig. 4 is a horizontal section looking downwardly onto the top of the guard, the view being taken on the line 44 in Fig. 2.

Referring to the drawing in greater detail, a dispenser bowl is indicated fragmentarily at 10. In the particular type of dispenser illustrated, the bowl has an upper portion, and at its bottom it converges inwardly with sloping walls 11 to a narrow neck portion 12, below which it flares out somewhat in a skirt portion 13. The portion 12, as will appear, constitutes a principal valving constriction, and the flaring portion 13 provides a discharge orifice passage generally indicated at 14.

In a preferred construction, there is also a false inner tapered bottom wall 15 that has an orifice 16.

2,762,532 Patented Sept. 11, 1956 The dispenser has a valve 17 that is disposed in the narrow neck portion 12 of the dispenser and is mounted upon a vertical valve plunger rod 18. As will be understoodv by reference to patents well known in this art, the plunger 18 may be suspended at its top in such wise as to permit it to move vertically within limits that usually are adjustable. This provides for adjustment of the amount of soap dispensed with each operation, as will appear.

Below the bottom of the flared portion 13 and the orifice 14 and on the depending portion of the plunger rod 18, the guard 20 of the present invention is mounted. This guard 20 is shown as being supported on the plunger rod 18 by a sleeve-like medial part 21 from which a downwardly and outwardly flaring conical portion 22 extends to approximately the diameter of the lower part of the flared skirt portion 13. An upwardly extending flange 23 is arranged around the periphery of the guard 20. A plurality of holes or orifices 24 are arranged around the edge of the guard 20 within the flange or rim 23 and adjacent the lowermost part of the guard 20.

Operation A dispenser of this general type is filled from the top with powdered soap, or whatever is to be dispensed. This material falls down onto the inner bottom wall 15 and a portion of it when the valve 17 is closed may flow through the orifice 16 down onto the upper surface of the valve 417. In some of these dispensers of this character the diameters of the orifice 16 and valve 17 are so arranged that the powdered soap will form a conical mound on top of the valve 17 that will not spill over the edges of the valve 17 when it is in its lowermost position. In others, the valve 17 in its lowermost position extends sufficiently close to the neck portion 12 of the main dispenser body that it effectively closes the passage 14 so that the soap cannot escape when the valve 17 is closed. In the latter event, the false or inner bottom wall 15 is of course sometimes omitted.

In the operation of this type of dispenser above described, the user brings the palm of his hand to the lower end of the valve plunger 18 and lifts it by a force supplied through the palm of his hand. When the valve plunger 18 lifts, soap on the top of the valve 17 is ex pelled around the edges thereof because of the interaction of the conical inner bottom wall 15 on the mound of soap on the valve 17. Or in the event there is no such false bottom and the column of soap in the dispenser bowl 10 is resting upon the valve 17, the elevation of the valve 17 to the position of Fig. 3 so enlarges the annular passage around the periphery of the valve that the soap may escape therearound and fall into the palm of the hand resting upwardly against the lower end of the plunger 18.

It is customary in the foregoing operation that the user, prior to dispensing soap, take some water into the palm of his hand. This means that when he brings the palm ofhis hand upwardly against the bottom of the plunger 18 and sharply raises it and the valve 17, he tends to splash some of the water up into the dispensing parts of the soap dispenser, these parts including the flared portion 13, the valve 17, the neck portion 12 and any other parts making up and in the discharge orifice passage 14. This is a disadvantage because soap is hygroscopic and adheres to wet surfaces. Hence, when the soap subsequently discharges through the parts mentioned, any wet parts will attract the powdered soap, which will adhere to them. This situation accumulates with successive uses and finally becomes not only unsightly but also unsanitary, and even may go so far as to obstruct the eflicient operation of the soap discharging elements, as will be apparent from the description previously given.

With the guard 20 used, the foregoing difliculties are minimized if not completely eliminated. If a user has water in the palm of his hand as he sharply elevates the valve plunger 18, and if some of that water splashes upwardly, it will merely come against the bottom of the guard 20 and cannot get into the discharge operating parts of the dispenser except for the very limited holes 24 where such holes are used. Furthermore, any water that splashes up within the underside of the conical portion will drain back down the sleeve part 21 and the plunger 18, or else will drain down the underside of the conical portion 22 and will not reach the discharge operating parts.

If the cone-shaped guard 20 were solid without the orifices 24 or their equivalents, the soap descending from the neck portion 12 would tend to strike the guard 20 and be deflected outwardly with the tendency to spread so far as to miss the palm of the hand of the user. This condition is minimized by the provision of the flange 23 around the rim of the guard 20. This flange 23 tends to confine the particles descending onto the top of the guard and keep them from deflecting outwardly too far. Furthermore, the arrangement of the orifices 24 through the guard just inside of the flange 23 causes the soap which is held back by the rim to descend through the orifices 24 within an area that is smaller than the palm of the hand.

Consequently, the guard 20 herein provided not only keeps water away from the discharge operating parts of the dispenser, but does so without causing the soap to be deflected outwardly too far to fall into the palm of the hand of the user. This is an additional advantage, it being a distinct advantage to have a guard of this kind even without the flange and openings, in order to minimize the splashing problem.

It is not normally intended that the guard 20 shall actually come into contact with the lower edge of the flared skirt portion 13 when the valve 17 is up. The desirable relationship is that shown in Fig. 3, which shows that the soap may descend through the orifice 16 onto the valve 17, and may be expelled around the periphery of the valve 17 until it strikes the guard 20. It may then discharge through the holes 24 while the valve 17 is still in its upper position. If the holes 24 were not present and if the guard 20 closed against the bottom of the skirt portion 13 when the valve 17 was elevated, the soap descending around the valve 17 would come to rest on the top of the guard 20 until the valve 17 is again lowered. While in some cases this might be practical, it is not as desirable an operation as that afiorded by the preferred construction with the flange 23 and the holes 24.

What is claimed is:

1. In a dispenser for powdered soap or the like, a bowl having a discharge passage in the bottom thereof; a valve vertically movable with respect to said discharge passage to open and close the passage to permit and to prevent, respectively, the descend of powdered soap therethrough; a vertically movable plunger upon which the valve is mounted, the plunger depending through the discharge passage to below the bottom wall of the bowl which defines said discharge passage so it may be engaged by the hand of the user and moved upwardly; a splash guard fixedly mounted on the plunger and spaced below the valve and below the open bottom end of the discharge passage, the splash guard having a portion extending laterally outwardly at least substantially to the Walls of the discharge passage at its bottom end, whereby to obstruct upward splashing of water from the hand of the user onto the discharge operating parts of the dispenser when the hand of the user is moved to and against the lower end of the valve plunger, said guard ,further extending downwardly from the plunger at least to the wall of the discharge passage at its bottom end and having an upstanding flange around its periphery, with holes adjacent the periphery inside of the flange.

2. In a dispenser for powdered soap or the like, a bowl having a restricted opening in the bottom thereof; a skirt-like portion situated below said bowl and having a throat-like valve opening therein of larger diameter than said restricted opening; a valve situated between said valve opening and the restricted opening vertically movable above said valve opening to permit and to prevent, respectively, the descent of powdered soap therethrough; a vertically movable plunger upon which the valve is mounted, the plunger extending through the restricted opening and the valve opening to below said skirt-like portion so it may be engaged by the hand of the user and moved upwardly; a splash guard fixedly mounted on the plunger below the valve and below the bottom end of the skirt-like portion, the splash guard having a portion extending laterally outwardly at least substantially to the bottom wall of the skirt-like portion whereby to obstruct upward splashing of water from the hand of the user onto the discharge operating parts of the dispenser when the hand of the user is moved upwardly against the lower end of the valve plunger.

3. In a dispenser for finely divided material: a bowl having an opening in the bottom thereof; a valve; a plunger mounted in the bowl and depending through the opening to be engaged for vertical movement toward and from the opening, the valve being mounted on the plunger above the bottom of the bowl to move with the plunger to dispense material from the bowl; and a splash guard mounted on the plunger below the valve, and movable with the plunger and valve, the guard having an upper surface extending downwardly and outwardly from the plunger so as to reduce the size of the opening below the valve, but the guard providing passage means for egress of material descending past the valve, said passage means comprising openings in the splash guard connecting with said upper surface.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,863,871 Packwood June 21, 1932 2,227,706 Conner Jan. 7, 1941 FOREIGN PATENTS 401,427 France Aug. 28, 1909 

